Chris Canterbury's New Song Inspired by a Chance Encounter
Mia Morrison Chris Canterbury drew on a very unusual and striking personal encounter for his new song and video, "Kitchen Table Poet."
The Louisiana native, who now calls Nashville home, is releasing his new album, Quaalude Lullabies, and he's letting fans see the new video for one of its tracks first via an exclusive Taste of Country premiere.
"Kitchen Table Poet" is about a man who really knows how to reel in his audience with a simple anecdote.
"He's a kitchen table poet / He's a danger with a phrase / A rounder and a founder of a once-forgotten age / His words flow like whiskey through the fibers on the page / He's a kitchen table poet / We won't ever know his name," Canterbury sings in the chorus.
A chance encounter inspired the song, Canterbury tells Taste of Country.
"I played a show in Auburn, Ala., a few years ago with Channing Wilson and Adam Hood. Afterward, we hitched a room at the Standard Deluxe House in Waverly," he relates.
"When I woke up the next morning, there was an old man making coffee and trying to find a football game on the old Radio Shack radio on the porch. I didn’t ask, but he told me his life story. Said he’d never left the county, but he made the best apple brandy in the south. I didn’t believe him on either account. Anyway, this song was born from that conversation. Just about a guy that can write a song or tell a story and make you ache for more. I can’t even remember his name."
Canterbury delivers the song in a stark, bare-bones rendition in the video below:
"Kitchen Table Poet" is one of nine tracks on Quaalude Lullabies, a collection of songs that tackle difficult themes including addiction, depression and loneliness. The album arrives on Friday (Sept. 23), and Canterbury's gritty realism will remind country music fans of Chris Stapleton and Jamey Johnson.
Quaalude Lullabies is available for streaming and download across a wide variety of digital music providers.
